Willie Nelson has announced the lineup for his storied 4th of July Picnic, held this year at the Circuit of the Americas racetrack in Austin, Texas. The roster is among the Independence Day party’s most diverse, with aggro-country outlaw Brantley Gilbert sharing space with Lone Star state songbird Lee Ann Womack.
Kris Kristofferson, Jamey Johnson with Alison Krauss, Billy Joe Shaver and David Allan Coe are also on the bill, along with trad-country breakout star Margo Price.
Founded in 1973, Nelson staged his inaugural picnic in Dripping Springs, Texas, just outside of Austin. Last year’s event featured Eric Church, frequent Nelson collaborator Kacey Musgraves, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell and the late Merle Haggard.
Tickets go on sale Friday, May 20th, at 10am via Ticketmaster, Live Nation and the Circuit of the Americas website.
“I got the idea from Woodstock about how music could bring people from different places together,” Nelson said last year about the picnic. “I had just moved to Austin and had come to realize what a great music center it was and could be. I thought it would be a nice idea to this year have it back in Austin.”
The always-on-the-road Nelson is also set to perform at the 2016 Austin City Limits Festival Hall of Fame Inductions on October 12th, as well as headline the ACL Fest’s two weekends earlier that month.
– Rolling Stone
